


Awkward Encounters

by allmylovesatonce



Category: The Mindy Project
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-28
Updated: 2015-05-05
Packaged: 2018-03-26 04:16:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3836707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allmylovesatonce/pseuds/allmylovesatonce
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set sometime during the breakup, Danny and Mindy run into Amy and have to pose as a loving couple again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. one

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally going to be a one shot but I decided, whatever, let's stretch this out! Probably will be only a few chapters! Hope you read and enjoy!

Mindy didn’t know how she got roped into getting lunch for the whole office. She also didn’t know how she managed to end up going with Danny. But yet there they were, standing in line at his favorite deli.

Ever since he had left her, she avoided alone time with him like the plague. If she had to be in the same room with him at work, she made sure Peter or Morgan were there. She wanted Peter there because he knew what she was going through. Sometimes she wanted Morgan there because he would do all the talking and no one would notice that she wasn’t talking to Danny.

Yes, she missed him. She missed him like hell. But it made no difference. He didn’t want her. There was no point in pining over a man who made up his mind and left. He was the one who said that guys don’t break up with people they secretly want to be with. She was trying her best to just move on, but the further she moved on, the more she missed his friendship. She obviously missed all the great coupley things too, but his friendship was really the thing she missed.

It served him right though. He broke up with her and assumed they would stay friends. How could she be friends with him when every time she saw him she thought about him grabbing her and kissing her? How could she be friends with him when she remembered waking up in bed next to him and waking him up with little kisses? How could she be friends with him when every time she saw him, the pain from the night he left struck her again and again?

Mindy looked over at Danny. Why was she stuck in this situation? When the office decided they wanted lunch from this place, he practically jumped at the idea of coming along, even though Mindy had already drawn short straw of picking it up. Was he playing at something? Why was he so insistent on joining her? She wanted to ask him. Instead, they stood there in silence awkwardly. She could feel the tension between them. He had to feel it too, right? All of the sudden, his hand was on her back, just like he always used to, and he was guiding them forward in line. Mindy jumped at the contact. He probably noticed.

They finally made it to the front and placed their embarrassingly large order. Mindy went to get the card, but Danny beat her to it, pulling out his credit card. As they waited for the food, Mindy finally broke the tense silence.

“You know, I had the practice credit card. You didn’t have to pay for all of that,” she offered.

“Eh, it’s no big deal. It wasn’t that much money,” Danny replied nonchalantly.

Mindy didn’t know how to reply. Danny didn’t want to go on. So the silence returned. They stood there as Mindy grew impatient.

“Danny? Chloe?” Mindy whipped around to see whoever was talking to Danny. Immediately she spotted the redhead she met a few months ago. Before she could react, Danny threw his arm around her waist and pulled her close to him.

“A-Amy! Hey! Weird running into you here…” Danny said, clearly flustered.

“Oh right, I forgot this was your favorite deli,” Amy added awkwardly.

“My God. You told her your favorite deli? What didn’t you do?” Mindy muttered, though it came out louder than she intended.

Amy chuckled. “Well we didn’t have a baby…”

Danny sucked in a breath, looking quickly over at Mindy. She looked down at her stomach. She was clearly not with child. And according to her math, she probably should still be. Or at the very least, have recently given birth. Mindy looked (she hoped) like neither of those.

“Oh…” Amy trailed off. There was a long pause between the three of them. All Mindy could process was that Danny’s arm was still around her. It felt heavy against her back. She just wanted him to let her go. He clearly couldn’t read her mind though, as he tightened his grip on her hip. It was going to make her nauseous.

“Listen, it would be great for us to catch up,” Amy cheerfully stated. “Why don’t you two come over to my apartment on Friday night and we can hang out! Wouldn’t that be fun?”

Mindy could think of nothing less fun than hanging out with her ex-boyfriend and some girl he used to sleep with. Danny looked at Mindy desperately. He was probably trying to find a way out of this but was at a loss. He squeezed her hip in what was probably supposed to be a comforting gesture.

“Yeah, Amy, sure. Mi – uh, Chloe and I would love that…” Danny finished, correcting himself before he made the same mistake as last time.

“Great! I’ll see you guys around 7:00? That work?”

“Super,” Danny replied lamely.

“Shulman?” The man at the counter yelled.

Mindy ran forward to grab the food. She looked over it with the man while resisting yelling at him for not getting it to them literally five minutes faster. She picked up the order and turned to Danny. He placed his hand on her back as he guided her out of the deli and away from Amy.

“Yeah, we’ll, uh, see you Friday.”

“Bye, guys!” Amy yelled cheerfully.

When they got back to work, Mindy grabbed her sandwich, stormed to her office, and slammed the door, hoping people (namely Danny) would take the hint to not bother her for the rest of the day.  


	2. two

Mindy stood looking at the clothes in her closet, debating what outfit to wear. She knew it was just them hanging out with Amy, but Mindy was not above wanting to look sexy to make Danny realize what he was missing. She tried on dress after dress but they all felt wrong. She didn’t want to put together some tantalizing ensemble when she would just be taking it off of herself that night. While it was tempting to try and make Danny squirm, she didn’t want to think of how she would feel if she got all dressed up and he didn’t even care or notice.

After settling on a pair of jeans and a fairly low cut pink top, she left her apartment with wine and an overwhelming sense of dread. The closer she got to Danny’s apartment, the more she started sweating.

“Ugh. Is this what Danny feels like all the time? This is disgusting,” she said to herself as she walked closer to his building.

She stood on his stoop, looking up at the building. She really didn’t want to go in. Maybe she could fake a delivery. That might work on Amy, but it certainly wouldn’t work on Danny. But why did she care if Danny knew she was avoiding him? He left her. Mindy was about ready to turn around and leave, citing some personal emergency when she got a text from Danny.

**Hey! You gonna be here soon? It’s almost 7:00…**

Mindy sighed. Why was she actually punctual right now? She was never on time. This was her moment. She could easily text him back and say that something just came up. She looked back up at his building and remembered the last time they were these people. He had seemed so flustered that night. He was flustered around Amy but he was also flustered around her. He seemed so weird about having her in his space. Maybe that was her sign that their eventual relationship would be doomed. He didn’t even want her around. The only reason he probably cooked breakfast for her was because she had gotten rid of Amy. Maybe tonight would just be a repeat of that night and then Mindy could forget about it all and move on with her life. Sighing, she texted Danny back.

**I’m actually downstairs. Buzz me in.**

She heard the distinctive buzz and grabbed the door, already wanting this night to be over.

*

Danny scuttled around his apartment, trying to tidy things up even though in reality, there was nothing to clean. He was so nervous to be around Mindy. They hadn’t really spent any time together since they had broken up. At first he tried to talk to her but she rebuffed him. He started keeping his distance after he realized how much he actually loved her. It was painful to see her running around with Peter like she used to with him. He knew it was his own fault, but that didn’t mean he liked it.

He had been an idiot to leave Mindy. She was his best friend and he missed her like crazy. He missed her laugh and her smile. He missed how she would breeze into his office to talk about her day even if he was busy. He missed her actually talking to him. He thought he would ruin their romantic relationship and they would hate each other, but in trying to protect them he ruined their friendship.

Tonight was a bad idea. Danny was pretty sure it would kill him to pretend to be with Mindy and then not actually be with her. The last time they had acted for Amy was when he really started to accept his feelings for Mindy. He had known they were there, but he kept pushing them down. But having her in his arms had just felt right. As he cooked her breakfast the next morning, he was sure she had meant her crush was him. It killed him when she said she liked Cliff. At the time he thought he was so much better than Cliff. But in the end, he was just like Cliff. He ended their relationship for no good reason, hurting her.

Danny kept thinking of how he was going to handle pretending to be Mindy’s devoted boyfriend. He knew the motions and he knew what they felt like with her. It was going to be hard to not take it too far and hurt their relationship even more. Slipping his arm around her at the deli had been instinct to make it seem like they were together. He could feel her tense up as he did it though and it killed him. All he wanted to do was wrap her up in his arms and tell her how sorry he was and how lost he was without her.

He knew he was being selfish, though. He had hurt Mindy. She probably didn’t even want him anymore. Danny could guarantee she was moving on without him. As well she should, he had to remind himself. But he couldn’t stop thinking about how she might react if he tried to get her back. What if he groveled and begged her to take him back? What if he apologized for everything he did wrong, for ever hurting her or doubting them? How would she react if he just laid all his feelings out there for once and showed her how much she completed him?

Mindy would probably just rebuff him because he hurt her. She probably wouldn’t believe that he actually loved her. What is the point of putting himself out there if she is just going to reject him? He had this tiny seed of hope in his chest that maybe one day she’d forgive him and they could get back together. If he tried to fix things now and she wasn’t ready or wasn’t receptive to the idea, that seed of hope would die and Danny would be miserable. These thoughts had been playing through his mind in the weeks since the breakup. He kept talking himself into doing something and then talking himself out of it.

Danny heard the knock at the door and had to stop himself from freaking out. He was already a sweaty mess; he didn’t need things to get worse. He opened the door and there stood Mindy. She looked beautiful. She was more casual than he had seen her in a long time. Well at least since they broke up and she wasn’t wearing his sweats around his apartment. Nope, can’t think about that. Even not in one of her fancy dresses, she still was breathtaking. He should probably speak before it’s just minutes of him staring at her perfection.

“Uh, hey Min…dy…” he said awkwardly, adding the last syllable to her name when he saw her tense at his use of her nickname.

“Hey,” Mindy replied tensely. They stood there uncomfortably. Danny couldn’t take the silence. It just wasn’t like her.

“Listen, Mindy, I know you probably don’t want to go hang out with Amy.  I don’t either, but –”

“Then why are we doing this? Let’s just not go.”

“She’s expecting us in like three minutes. It’d be rude to cancel now…” Danny explained. He was prepared to come up with a plethora of excuses if it meant he could spend time with Mindy.

“Fine. Then let’s go. What are you waiting for?” Mindy said as she turned around and headed back down the hall. Danny grabbed his keys and chased after her. As they reached Amy’s door, Danny put his hand on Mindy’s back as he always used to. He felt her telltale tense up. It killed him. He decided to shrug it off and reached out to knock on the door and enter into whatever weirdness this night would entail.      


	3. three

Amy opened the door wide with a big, almost forced smile on her face. Mindy thought she looked a bit deranged. Maybe she was regretting this just as much as they were.

“Please come in! Come in! Chloe, may I say, you look stunning!”

“Uh, thanks, Amy. That’s nice of you to say,” Mindy replied, handing Amy the wine she brought.

They walked into an apartment that looked very similar to Danny’s. The layout was reversed and hers was slightly smaller, but essentially it was Danny’s apartment. That didn’t help ease Mindy’s mind at all. She essentially felt like she was spending an evening at his place and she had made sure not to do that in a while.

“I have some wine already poured if you’d like…” Amy offered.

“You know what, Amy? I would _love_ some wine! I feel like wine would really make this night. Don’t you think so, Danny?”

Danny who hadn’t spoken yet snapped out of his trance. “Uh, yeah. Wine would be great.”

Danny had been so focused on Mindy that he couldn’t really process much else. It was strange to be in such close quarters with her again. He wanted so badly for it to be real. He walked over to the island and stood right next to Mindy. He could hear her sharp intake of breath as their arms grazed each other. Amy was talking about something. He didn’t know what though.

“So um, how have you guys been? I haven’t seen either of you in a while?” Amy asked politely.

Mindy looked nervously over at Danny. “Well, we’ve been okay I guess…” Mindy started, trailing off at the end.

“That’s better than bad!” Amy exclaimed, trying to put a positive spin on things.

Mindy kept thinking of how awkward it was that she was upset about a trivial thing like a break up and Amy thought she was upset over a miscarriage. Maybe tonight should be the night that they finally tell Amy they were huge liars.

“Yep. But who cares about us? How have you been? What have you been up to?” Mindy asked Amy, purposefully changing the subject.   

“You know, I’ve been pretty great. I’m actually planning a vacation with my sister. Guess where we’re going!”

“I don’t know! It could literally be anywhere in the world,” Mindy replied.

“We’re taking a sisters’ trip to St. Barth’s!”

Mindy and Danny both picked up their heads and looked curiously at her. They clearly both remembered Mindy’s made up story of that being where they met.

Danny looked over at Mindy saying, “Hmm. Well, how about that?”

“You know I just loved your story of how you two met. I thought my sister and I should give it a try, see if we can wrangle ourselves some men as good as Danny!”

“Yeah…” Mindy began, “That sounds…great.”

“Tell me, where did you stay?” Amy inquired.

Oh shit. Now they had to come up with a place to stay. Danny looked over at Mindy panicked.

“Huh. Babe, do you remember the name of that place?” Danny asked, rubbing his hand along her forearm.

Mindy’s breath shortened as she tried to think of anything but Danny’s hand on her.

“Good question! I guess we just got so caught up in falling in love that the name of the resort wasn’t that important.” Pulling out her phone Mindy quickly looked up resorts in St. Barth’s.

“You two really don’t remember?”

“It was uh, um, the uh…oh! It was the Grand Bay Resort!” Mindy said, making up a name.

“I’ll have to remember that,” Amy said.

Mindy’s internet search finally pulled up. “Whoa, that was a real place!” Mindy exclaimed as she saw a listing for a resort of the same name. Danny elbowed her in the ribs as Amy looked over confused.

Clearing her throat, Mindy followed up, “It was a, uh, resort in a movie I saw. I guess it’s a real place. Maybe I should have gone there!”

“But then you wouldn’t have met Danny…” Amy reminded her.

Mindy glanced at Danny out of the corner of her eye. “Yeah…imagine that…”

Danny felt the sting of her comment. He hated himself for it. He had hurt her so bad that apparently now she didn’t even want to know him. He moved slightly away from her. Luckily it wasn’t long before Amy served dinner and they all sat down at the table.

They all chatted through dinner and Danny was the only one keeping up the couple charade. Mindy didn’t have the heart to act. But Danny apparently had no problem pretending to want her. He kept idly touching her arm or putting his hand over hers. He would laugh and look over lovingly in her direction. It was making her sick. She didn’t want to stay here and put up with his act. And that’s all it was. If he had wanted her, he wouldn’t have left her. Every time he touched her it sent a spark through her. She both relished and hated his touch. She hated that she wanted him to keep touching her, to hold her. At the same time, he used to be her best friend and she was in love with him and part of her was excited by his touch.

She didn’t know how soon it was in their relationship that she realized she was in love with him. She kept it to herself though. She didn’t want to spook him and send him running for the hills. Apparently it would have made no difference. She held the feelings in and he ran anyway. She was so tired of loving him. She wished she could make it go away but she couldn’t. No amount of wallowing or drinking or partying with Peter made her feel any different. She was in love with Danny Castellano, the man who only wanted to keep her a secret.

When Casey flaked out and she broke up with him, she was devastated. When Cliff dumped her without hearing her side of the story, she was heartbroken. When Danny was prompted to come forward with their relationship, he made sure there was no relationship to speak of. And his hurt the worst because he was her best friend and the person she never expected to leave her.

“You know I have to say it,” Amy began, “You two just seem like the perfect couple. You can just tell how much love is there.”

Mindy smiled tightly, not wanting to refute her, but knowing she was wrong. Danny put his arm around Mindy, saying, “You’re not wrong, Amy.” He looked over at Mindy with a very intense gaze before leaning in and kissing her temple like he had done the first time all those months ago . Mindy closed her eyes. She thought she might actually be sick. The inner battle she’d been having with herself was making her miserable. She felt her stomach drop. She wanted what he said to be real so badly and she hated herself for it.

Mindy finally willed herself to open her eyes and she looked over at Danny. His face still bore the intense look he was giving her before he kissed her. She shook her head. She had to leave. She couldn’t be around him anymore.

Mindy startled them by standing up suddenly. She charged for the door.

“What’s wrong?” Amy asked.

Mindy turned around and looked only at Danny. He looked concerned and crestfallen. “I’m sorry, but Danny, I can’t do this. I just…I, I can’t.” And with that, she walked out and closed the door behind her.

“Mindy wait!” Danny yelled running toward the door.

“Mindy?” Amy asked softly. “So she isn’t Chloe?”

Danny hesitated and turned around before opening the door. “I’m sorry Amy. She’s Mindy. I made her pretend to be my girlfriend when we ran into you because, yes, I was avoiding you. What she didn’t know was that I was in love with her. Hell I don’t think I really knew it at the time. She came up with this elaborate scheme and the stories kept getting grander and we lied to you. I’m sorry. We got together a couple months ago and then I ruined it. Like I always do. But she, she was the one I was supposed to get it right with. And I didn’t. I’m sorry we kept lying to you, but if I don’t run after her now, I’m afraid I’ll never get my chance to say everything I need to say to her.”

Amy nodded understandingly and Danny ran out the door. As he charged down the stairs to the curb, he saw her cab pull away. Without hesitation, Danny threw his arm out, hailing another cab. No more talking himself out of it, he had to tell her now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that it's been a bit since I last updated. I like to update quickly but I'm close to graduation and school got the best of me! It may be a bit too before the next chapter!  
> If you're reading, thank you! I'm loving reading the sweet comments!
> 
>  
> 
> Feel free to check me out here: http://allmylovesatonce.tumblr.com/


	4. four

Mindy slammed the door behind her and threw her purse on the couch. Tonight had gone about as terribly as she had expected. She stood against the door, sliding down until she was sitting in a heap against it. With her knees to her chest, she sat there as she started to cry. She laid her head on her arms and let it happen.

Why did she agree to go tonight? It’s not like she owed Danny anything. She could have just said no. She _should_ have just said no. The more times he touched her, the closer she got to forgetting he had left her. How was it so easy for him to slip into the role of affectionate boyfriend? Probably because he never felt that way so it truly was just an act. She wanted to scream at him and beg him to tell her why he did this to them. Why did he kiss her? Why did he start this? He never answered her that night. He probably didn’t have the guts to admit that he was just caught up in the moment of writing the letter.

Mindy didn’t know how long she had been sitting there wallowing but all the sudden she heard footsteps approach the door. There was a pause before the tentative knock. She just ignored it. After a break, there was another knock, this time more sure. Finally, Mindy stood up to look through the peephole.  She figured it would be Danny, but she wasn’t sure she was ready to talk to him. She opened the door without unhooking the chain. That way she could still deny him entry.

As he heard the door open he leapt towards the doorway only to look broken when she wasn’t letting him in. They looked at each other for a few seconds before she finally broke the silence.

“What do you want, Danny?” She asked, tears still running down her face.

He reached out even though he knew he couldn’t and shouldn’t touch her cheek. “Min, I _need_ to talk to you. Please. I promise it won’t take long. Then I can turn around and leave and we can never talk about it again. We can go back to being casual work acquaintances and only talk at meetings and when we run into each other in the break room like I’m sure you’d prefer.”

Mindy sniffled. What he was describing was the last thing she wanted. “What happened to trying to save our friendship?” As she asked, she looked up and actually stared him down.

Danny returned her gaze. “I think we both know I already ruined that…”

She held eye contact for a bit before closing the door and removing the chain. She opened the door fully and stepped back to let him in. He stepped in hesitantly. As he looked around her apartment, he was flooded of memories from the night he left. He knew if he didn’t talk soon, he would psych himself out and leave again for fear of hurting her even more.

“Mindy, I…” he started. He took in her tearstained face, knowing it was because of him. He decided the best thing he could do was be completely honest with her. He was going to bare it all so he would know once and for all whether they could be together or not.

Taking a deep breath, he spoke again. “Mindy I’ve had something that I’ve needed to say to you pretty much since the moment I walked out that door,” he said, motioning to her front door. “I’ve talked myself into saying it 1000 times and talked myself out of it just as many times. But I know if I don’t say it, I’ll regret it.”

Mindy sighed almost impatiently, “What is it?”

“I shouldn’t have left…” Danny started before Mindy burst in to interrupt him.

“No shit you shouldn’t have, Danny. I get that you have issues and whatever. I’ve been watching from the sidelines of enough of your relationships to see that. I just figured for once you could trust me. We were best friends, Danny. If anyone was going to do their absolute best not to hurt you, it was gonna be me!” Mindy paused to take a breath as Danny tried to shake off the pain from her saying they _were_ best friends.

“Danny, I was in this. I think maybe you thought I wasn’t, but I was. Do you think I would have done everything I did if I wasn’t? All I wanted was for you to trust me. All I wanted was to feel wanted. And I did…until you decided we should keep it a secret. And then I felt like the biggest idiot of them all. I went along with it because I trusted you. I didn’t think you would actually break up with me rather than tell our _friends_ that we were dating. I went along with it because I thought maybe in the long run it wouldn’t matter if we kept it a secret for a bit at first.  And then you ran. You left me. You were my best friend, Danny. You were supposed to be the one who didn’t hurt me. But you did. You broke my freaking heart and then pretended like nothing happened. I went along with your whole stupid plan, Danny, because I was in love with you and then you just left me!” Mindy exclaimed as tears streamed down her face.

Danny just stared at her. He didn’t know what he could say. His speech was useless. He felt so much pain and regret for what he had done, but as he stood in front of Mindy now, after her confession, he didn’t know if he was capable of making it up to her. He wanted to more than anything. But he was beginning to think he had caused her too much pain.

Finally he cleared his throat and tried to break the silence, “Mindy, I’m sorry.”

“God! Stop saying you’re sorry! You said that after you kissed me, you said that when you left me, you just keep saying it! I hate that phrase!” Mindy yelled at him.

Danny lost control of his voice and started to yell, “Well I _am_ sorry! I’m sorry I didn’t follow you out to the balcony for some air at the Christmas party. I’m sorry I yelled at you in the desert instead of actually talking about what was wrong. I’m sorry I helped you write that letter to Cliff instead of just saying all those things to you myself. I’m sorry I waited months after I finally processed my feelings to do something about it. I’m sorry I ever made you think I didn’t want you. I’m sorry I made you think I was embarrassed of you. I’m sorry that I ever suggested we keep us a secret. I’m sorry that I broke your heart.  I’m sorry that I left and that I’ve been an insensitive jerk while trying to get things back to normal when I know they’ll never be normal again. I’m sorry most of all, though, that you never knew that the whole time I loved you too.”

Mindy breathed in deeply. The tears continued to stream down her face as she and Danny were facing off. They both stood there. Not moving forward, not stepping back, just staying where they were. They had both bared their souls in a very short span of time. Danny didn’t want to move too quickly and get rebuffed. Mindy didn’t want to let him off the hook too easily. He had hurt her too much for that. They both just stood there as Mindy cried silently and Danny fought the tears building in his eyes.

Mindy was the one to break the silence. “Okay so, I want you to be completely honest with me. None of the bullshit from before. I want actual honesty. You think you can do that?”

Danny nodded, holding his breath.

“Why? Why did you decide to leave?”

“Min –”

“No. I need to know. If you want me to entertain the idea of taking you back, which is why I think you came after me when you could have just gone back to your apartment, I need to know why. What if I take you back and I can’t read the signs and you break me all over again? Just tell me why! Whether we get back together or not, I deserve to know why! If we were ever as close as I thought we were, then I deserve to know why you left me so suddenly, Danny.”

Danny took a deep breath and looked up at her. “Because I got scared. You’re my best friend, Mindy. I meant that. And I meant it when I said I had to have you in my life. I do. I saw the road this could go down. I saw the happy moments first. And then the road veered and I saw us hating each other. Because that’s how all my relationships end. And I couldn’t do that with you, Mindy. I love you but I would rather just be your friend even if it tortured me than ever have you look at me the way Christina did.”

Danny stopped to take a breath before continuing. “I ruin things. It seems to be the way I’m programmed. This, us, it was the last thing I wanted to mess up and I did it anyway. In trying to save us from ruin, I ruined us anyway. I thought we could just fall back on our base of a close friendship. I figured you weren’t nearly as far gone as I was. I honestly thought if we called it early, we could be fine. But it was never really early for either of us, was it?”

Mindy swallowed. “No. I guess not.”

Danny finally had the courage to move a few steps closer to Mindy. “Look, I truly am sorry, Mindy. I want you to believe that. I didn’t come here to win you back. I didn’t come here to convince you that I’m not a jerk. I came here because you’re my friend and I love you and because when you’re in pain, it kills me. I’m sorry if I overstepped tonight trying to act for Amy. I should have been more considerate about your feelings. I knew you were uncomfortable, but I was so thrilled to actually be close to you, to actually get to touch you that I got carried away. It felt for a second tonight like I hadn’t screwed it all up. I just want you to know that I regret it. All of it. I don’t expect any of this to change your mind. I’m not here to make you forgive me. I’m just here…” Danny stopped to swallow back his tears. “I’m just here to make sure you were okay. I dragged you into tonight and I just wanted to come by and make sure I didn’t mess you up even more.”

Mindy nodded, unsure how else to reply.

Danny nodded back before turning toward the door. As he reached out to grab the knob, Mindy spoke.

“Danny, stop.” She could see him walking out of her life again and she couldn’t let it happen a second time. Not after everything they’d said to each other.

He froze. He turned his head slightly over his shoulder to look back at her. He couldn’t turn around and think he may have a second chance if he didn’t. Mindy walked toward him. She wasn’t right in front of him, but she was closer than they had been the whole time.

“You screwed it up. You did. There’s no denying that.” Danny turned around to look at her, curious of where she was going. She continued. “And tonight sucked. Amy is weird and yes, you were a bit touchy. But for a few seconds tonight, I forgot about it too. It came screaming back, but for a second it was like you hadn’t left. And I loved it.”

They both stood there, searching the other’s expression, trying to see what to say next.

Danny hoped he was reading the situation right and took a step closer to her. “What if I wasn’t just here to see if you were okay?”

Mindy took a step closer. “Then hypothetically why would you be here?”

“What if I was here because I know what my life is like without you and I never want to relive this hell again? What if I was here because you, Mindy Lahiri, are the love of my life and I couldn’t go another second without you knowing that? What if I was here because – ”

Mindy closed the gap between them, fisted her hands in his shirt and brought his lips down to hers. He responded immediately, pulling her in close to him. Just as he was about to deepen the kiss, Mindy pulled back. Looking him deeply in the eye she said, “I love you, Danny Castellano, and yeah, it still hurts. But how about this? How about we give this a real shot because you love me and I love you too and you can just prove to me that you won’t hurt me again by not hurting me again. That work for you?”

Danny smiled an impossibly big smile at her, cupped the sides of her face, and as he leaned in, said, “Yeah, I think I can make that work…”

And with that he crushed his lips to hers, trying to make up for all the time lost. They were in a frenzied passion trying to rediscover each other. In a flurry of groping hands and movements, Danny’s back hit the front door. Mindy smiled against his lips and only pressed herself closer into him. His hands were everywhere at once. In her hair, caressing her back, along her jaw, one grabbed her ass. She fisted her hands in his hair and pulled him as close to her as possible. She had missed the feel of him too much.

Mindy started pulling him away from the door and in the direction of her bedroom. Danny, sensing what was going on, stopped her and pulled back.

“Whoa, Min. Are you sure? What about the whole five dates thing? If you want to go slow again, I’ll go slow.”

Mindy smiled up at him. “I appreciate that. But you know, I’d been thinking about our situation, cursing myself because I thought I had missed my chance to have sex with Danny Castellano. I kinda don’t want to make that mistake again. You know?”

Danny leered at her, grabbing the hem of her shirt and yanking it off of her. “Yeah. I know.” She worked the buttons of his shirt as he started kissing her again. He kissed down her jaw towards her neck, nuzzling her and relishing the feel of having her in his arms again. She pushed his shirt off of him and it fell to the floor. He was still kissing her when his hands moved to unbutton her jeans. She pulled back in horror.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“I was single. They’re bad.”

“What’s bad?” Danny asked, still confused.

“I was aiming for comfort. I figured I’d be taking my clothes off myself tonight. Just don’t judge my underwear.”

“You think I care?”

“Well I don’t –”

Danny pulled her back into another bruising kiss. He went back to unbuttoning her jeans. He pushed them down and she stepped out of them. He grabbed her and lifted her, her legs wrapping around him as he carried her to her bed.

He laid her down and was then on top of her. He was kissing down her neck as she reached around and grabbed him to pull him closer to her.  He picked his head up looked at her asking, “Are you sure you’re sure about this?”

Mindy shook her head like he was an idiot. Her answer was in the long deep kiss she gave him. She poured all her love into it. She had probably never been surer of anything in her life. She loved Danny and she didn’t want them to make any more mistakes. And she was pretty sure that not having sex with him would be a big mistake. As he palmed her breast with one hand and splayed his hand across her rib cage with the other, there was truly no place she’d rather be.

Later as Mindy laid curled in Danny’s arms, she reveled in the feel of being with him again. The sex was new, but the familiarity of lying in bed snuggled up with Danny was comforting. She was lazily drawing circles on his chest and he wrapped his arms tighter around her as he kissed the top of her head. She looked up at him, saying, “I realize that I’ve seen you like every day since, you know, it happened, but I really missed you. Not talking to you sucks.”

Danny laughed, kissing her cheek. “You think not talking to me sucks? No one else talks to me, so if you aren’t talking to me, it’s just me. I missed you so much. I didn’t think you could miss people that much.”

Mindy smiled, leaning in and kissing the side of his neck. “This night really turned out a lot differently than I pictured…”

Chuckling, Danny agreed. “Yeah. Not in a bad way though…oh wait! There’s still one more thing I have to do.” He kissed her on the lips quickly before he disentangled himself from her and got up to find his pants. Danny found his phone in the pocket. Coming back to the bed, he was scrolling through his contacts.

“Who are you calling at this time of night?”

Danny just held up a finger telling her to hold on. Finally he found who he was looking for. He clicked the name and waited for it to ring.

“Hello?”

“Morgan? Hey! It’s Dr. C.”

“Oh! Hey Dr. C!”

“You called Morgan?!” Mindy whisper shrieked.

Danny ignored Mindy, talking into the phone instead. “Listen, Morgan, there’s something I want to tell you. I don’t know if you know this, but I’m crazy in love with Dr. Lahiri and I think it’s safe for me to say that we’re dating.”

“YOU’RE WHAT?! OH MY GOD THIS IS THE BEST DAY EVER! I DON’T EVEN –” Morgan was yelling as Danny hung up the phone and tossed it on the nightstand. He rolled back over toward Mindy who had the biggest grin on her face.

“So I’m fairly certain that in about five minutes flat, the entire office will know about us. I’m ready, Min. I’m ready to give this a real shot. I want –”

Mindy cut him off with another kiss. Pulling back she was still smiling. She laughed a little and said, “I love you.”

Danny grinned, feeling like the luckiest man in the world.

“Not nearly as much as I love you.”

Danny was expecting a sweet response. Instead he got, “Ugh! Don’t make us one of _those_ couples! We love each other. We don’t need to fight over who loves the other more.”

“Because you would lose?”

“You’re an idiot!”

“But you love me…”

Mindy laughed. “Yeah. I do.”

They curled together, ready to stop fighting off sleep. Mindy had her head on Danny’s shoulder like a pillow. His arms were encircling her waist as they started to drift off.

They were both idiots to think they wouldn’t be getting a million texts and calls from every person in the office. In the end, they didn’t sleep almost all night. Only some of it was for fun reasons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!!! PLEASE let me know what you think! I love reading the comments and reviews. They often make my day, no lie!  
> Now that I'm done with school hopefully I'll have more time to write! :)


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